Former longtime Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who works in agriculture after being dismissed from his post due to loss of trust in 2010, believes wholesalers are abusing their monopoly status making the economy "anti-people."

The ex-mayor now possesses over 5,000 hectares of land in various
parts of Russia, growing wheat, barley and oats.

As Luzhkov received reporters from the popular mass circulation
daily Komsomolskaya Pravda, he said the current price-forming
system in the agricultural sector was “horrible” and blamed a
lack of competition among wholesalers for the situation.

“Why have prices gone up, even the prices for bread and milk?
This is a feature of a monopoly business, not a competitive one.
It can also be a hidden cartel agreement between those who work
in trade, not in agriculture,” Luzhkov told the newspaper.

He went on to estimate that the margin pocketed by wholesalers
and other middlemen could reach 80 percent of the retail price
for agricultural; produce.

Luzhkov was the mayor of Russian capital between 1992 and 2010
and was fired by then-President Dmitry Medvedev. Soon after he
left office, auditors launched a major inspection of the city’
companies and banks, and in the businesses of Luzhkov’s wife
Elena Baturina – once Russia’s richest woman with interests in
real estate, hotels and construction.

No criminal cases were brought against Luzhkov or his family, but
one of his close allies - the former head of the Bank of Moscow,
Andrey Borodin – was charged with multibillion-ruble embezzlement
of city funds. Borodin fled to the UK, where he was granted
asylum.

After falling foul of the authorities, Luzhkov began to criticize
Russian internal politics and the ruling party, United Russia,
despite being one of its founders and key figures. However, since
the 2011 parliamentary elections, political comments from the
ex-mayor have become scarce and he has completely dedicated
himself to his agricultural business.